War Heroes
by Ejes
Summary: There was one story Master Aqua's apprentices were never tired of hearing: the story of how the Guardians of Light defeated the Seekers of Darkness in the latest Keyblade War. And even though this was a painful story to tell, she owed her friends' memory that much.


_**Hope you're all having a wonderful day! Let me ruin it with an angsty story, now! This is, as you will get by reading it, post post KHIII. Obviously no actual KHIII spoilers (at least I hope so otherwise I would feel pretty bad).**_

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"Master Aqua, could you tell us the story once again, please?"

"Selene, you know this story makes her sad! Stop asking for that one!"

"But it's my favourite! It is sad but it is also so epic!"

Aqua kindly smiled at her two apprentices. They were fifteen, and reminded her a lot of Terra and her at their age. She quickly read through her notes - a report on Darkness she has been working on for a while - and finally put down her quill.

"Very well. But I will tell you only if you promise that your rooms will be all cleaned up by tomorrow morning."

"We promise!"

She laughed at their innocent grins, stretched and got up. They jumped on the sofa, Helios throwing a blanket on them. Aqua sighed, sitting in the armchair facing them.

"I can't tell you the whole story tonight, so how about I only tell you about how we won the Keyblade War?"

"That's the best part…" Selene whispered, as Helios kicked her. The best part, but also the most painful to tell. Even after all this time.

"Alright, then. It all started… Years ago. Many, many years ago.

After Riku and the King Mickey set me free from the Realm of Darkness, there was still a lot to do. And many friends to save. As I already told you, using the Master Keeper, I opened up the room where Ventus was asleep, and with Sora's help, we woke him up. Sora then actively worked on a way to set Roxas and Xion free. The team was almost complete, if not for Terra whose body was still possessed by Xehanort.

We trained a lot, to become stronger and to be able to really fight as a team. It took some time, and Kairi and Lea had almost completed their training when the time came to fight.

We met at the Keyblade Graveyard. The Seven Guardians of Light and our allies, versus the Thirteen Seekers of Darkness. We all already knew that we would suffer some losses in this fight. We were all prepared to die if that meant saving our friends. And… We were all prepared to accept to see some of our loved ones getting hurt, or worse.

I'd like to tell you that this was an epic fight, such as those you can read in the books, but truth was, we were all terrified. There is nothing glamorous about a war. Our blades clashed, spells were thrown here and there, sometimes hitting an ally rather than a foe, and our hands were tainted with the blood of the lives we took. I killed Xigbar. Ventus killed Marluxia. Lea killed Saïx. It was painful, the kind of pain that will never leave you, the blood stains on your hands never going away."

"But you were winning." Said Helios, caught in the story anyway. Aqua indulged a smile.

"Strangely enough, yes, we were. There had been no casualties on our side, and we were slowly outnumbering them. The main reason was teamwork. They were all good fighters, but they almost never fought as a group and were therefore quite clumsy when it came to fighting together. We were starting to see the Light, when suddenly…"

"Xehanort got Sora." Interrupted Selene, holding her breath. Aqua lowered her eyes, and Helios kicked his sister once again.

"Xehanort got Sora." Confirmed the Master. "We don't know how it happened, as we all were really focused on our own fights. But suddenly, Master Xehanort was laughing, holding Sora by the head, and that was when I got really scared. I had seen him crack Ventus's helmet from a very similar pose years ago, and that was a very resistant helmet, and Sora's head was bare. Darkness seeped from his hand, only to be absorbed by Sora's body, and Sora was screaming, and screaming again in pain. We couldn't do anything. Everybody had stopped fighting, Guardians and Seekers, all staring at this terrifying sight.

Sora's hair was starting to turn silver, and even from the distance, we could see glimpse of gold in his eyes. He couldn't fight that much Darkness, not after such an exhausting fight. That's when we understood that all they ever did was try to wear us out. Maybe get rid of some of us, but their goal had always been Sora."

"Master?"

She realised she had been clutching the armrest so firmly the fabric had almost started to tear.

"It's okay, Master. We know the story. You don't have to finish it. I'm sorry I asked."

Aqua quickly shook her head. "Don't you worry, Selene. It is important that you know this story. Stopping here wouldn't honour their memory."

She took a short pause to breathe deeply, and returned to her story.

"When Darkness started to surround Sora's heart, all those who were connected to him fell to their knees. Xion. Ventus. Roxas. And even Vanitas. They were all screaming, and that is a sound I won't ever forget. We were all paralyzed. I took Ven in my arms, but I couldn't do a thing. I tried to cast a Barrier. A Cure. Nothing worked. Vanitas's agony was releasing so many Unversed, but the minute they were born they would just curl into a ball and stay still on the ground.

And suddenly, the screaming stopped. Kairi was the only one who had the mind clear enough to move. She was the only brave one who ignored the suffering around, and managed to sneak behind Xehanort. While everyone was focused on the screaming kids on the battleground, Kairi had stabbed the Mastermind behind all of that right in the heart. And oh, we were so naive and stupid.

She had killed Master Xehanort, and our friends had stopped suffering. Maybe in our minds that had meant we had won. But of course, we had not. There were many enemies left. And they all reacted quickly while we were still stunned, shooting deadly spells on the ones still on the ground - all of Sora's connections. I saw Xemnas thrust a laser right into Ventus's chest. I saw it, and I felt it as the laser went through my own stomach as well.

This is how I knew that Terra was long gone. Had he still been in there, somehow, I know he would have stopped Xemnas. He wouldn't have let Ven get killed. It was too late to save Ven. It was too late to save Terra. So I did what I had to do, and avenged my family. What happened next, I could never tell you because I don't want you to imagine it. We were all really angry. Desperate. And we all had lost a lot. Too much. All you need to know is that in the end, the only people still standing were fighting for the Light. These are the reasons why we won this battle. But the price to pay had been way too important to call it victory. History will remember us as the victors, but everyone who'd been there will tell you that we lost more than we won. War isn't a game, war isn't fun, or heroic. War is terrifying. War scars you for life. War only brings pain and destruction. This is why this is _your_ duty, as Keyblade Apprentices, to learn from our past mistakes, and make sure no war will ever break again. We owe that much to the ones who gave their lives for this peace."

She heard a chuckle behind her.

"I can't believe how the kids always fall asleep before they get to hear the moral. You should start by that, next time."

She felt warm arms being wrapped around her shoulders, and looked at her two student, deeply asleep, Helios drooling and Selene softly snoring. They had been under the two Masters' care for years, but somehow never heard the end of the story, no matter how many times they would ask for this specific one.

"It's okay. I'm sure they are aware of this anyway. The future is up to them."

"Yeah, well, they still think this is a happy story where we madly fall in love at the end, so… I'm not sure they are aware of all they should."

Aqua chuckled, taking his hand and gently kissing his fingers.

"It's true that we are not _madly in love_ , but I still like you a lot… Lea."

The redhead sighed, burying his head into her neck.

"And we both know it will never go any further than that, Aqua. No matter what, we will only remain each other's consolation prize."

"Don't call us that."

But that was true, though. After Terra's and Ven's deaths, Aqua had lost all taste in life. And after Roxas's and Xion's death, Lea was in the very same state. They had moved in together only to make sure the other one wouldn't do anything stupid. And even though to most, they appeared to be a couple of fifteen years now, their relationship had never been built on love, but on grieving.

They would hug, they would kiss, like any couple would. But everytime they did, it was the face of someone else they pictured instead.

War had just broken them too hard to ever be fixed again.

* * *

 _ **The end.**_

 _ **Let's be clear, I don't really ship Aqua and Lea, but I think they still are pretty similar, one of them being of Light and the other of Darkness, as if being each other's reflection (wow that was deep). Even though I don't ship them, I guess I'd like to see cute fanarts about them because I can imagine the ship anyway.**_

 _ **Let's hope this isn't how KHIII will really end or that would just be so horrible x')**_


End file.
